


A Song of Freedom

by universe



Category: Out of Africa
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-13
Updated: 2009-05-13
Packaged: 2017-10-10 11:14:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/99136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/universe/pseuds/universe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>This was not Denmark, this was Africa.</i> Once upon a time, she'd had a farm there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Song of Freedom

Karen was not an ordinary woman.

Ordinary women her age did not have affairs, they did not marry their lover's brother. And they certainly did not go to Africa to grow coffee. It was inappropriate, just as inappropriate as being with Denys was while she was still married to Bror, but Karen decided that she did not care.

This was not Denmark, this was Africa, and the thousands of miles in between sang to her a song of freedom; the distance made her old life fade to nothing more than pale memories. And she herself was no longer Danish Karen. She was Karen Blixen, baroness and owner of a coffee plantation in East Africa. (The latter meant so much more than her official title.)

Africa had taught her lessons she would never forget, it had told her stories that she in turn told Denys, but above all, Africa had made her who she was. It had taken everything away from her and stripped her bare, only to give back so much more. It was a cruel continent, she had always known that, but even when Denys died, even when she had to leave, she found she was not able to blame Africa, to hate it for taking away her dreams (future, life). There was a price to be paid for everything you had, she knew, and if this was the cost for a few years of happiness, then so be it.

She was certain that she would never regret her choices, not even when her dream ended, but even that knowledge did not spare her the pain. _I had a farm in Africa_, she said, and wept.


End file.
